Soulbinding Like a State

If decentralized identity were widely adopted, people would be able to carry their full selves with them as they traverse cyberspace: their affinities and experiences reflected by what they’ve created, contributed to, earned, and owned online, no matter the specific platform. This would bring us closer to how things work in the physical world, wher... See more

But in order to mainstream decentralized identity, we must first establish systems that map people’s relevant off-chain experiences and affiliations on-chain. Then we must build mechanisms to standardize, process, and prioritize the influx of data that will be added on-chain. On the way, we’ll need to solve endemic challenges to decentralized ident... See more

If the “State is the monopoly on violence,” as Max Weber once defined it, then the surveillance state (or surveillance capital) is the monopoly on identity. In this time of rising surveillance capitalism, entrenched surveillance states and, more recently, the plutocracy of blockchain networks, this monopoly has never been more important to break. D... See more

When people talk about identity they usually mean one of three related but quite different scopes: (a) a unique identifier, (b) a holistic view of an entity, or (c) a specific piece of context about an entity.Unique identifiers are critical in any social setting. Names are an adequate ‘identifier’ amongst friends, family, or small tribes (under Dun... See more

instead of creating temporary profiles like we do in web2, web3 promotes long-term thinking. If people were empowered to build and maintain permanent identities online, we believe that on-chain systems could encourage people to more carefully curate the reputation markers that they carry with them into the future. In this case, curating a permanent... See more